Six semifinalist analyst acts have been cut, and six of the twelve finalist acts are now known for season 8 of America’s Got Talent. The 2013 AGT season of the reality talent competition this past week featured half of the years 24 semifinalist acts giving their all to earn valuable home viewer votes, and hopefully stay alive. By obtaining enough votes after Tuesday night’s performance to finish in the Top 5 of all competitors, Collins Key, Forte, Cami Bradley, Taylor Williamson and Innovative Force can now all breathe sighs of relief, as they are guaranteed a shot in the finals.

But there is always the agonizing flip side of the competition, where hard-working hopefuls dreaming for the riches and adulation that come with pop stardom have to face the fact that “there is always next year.” Red Panda was Howie Mandel’s Wild Card pick, but unfortunately joined Angela Hoover, Tone the Chiefrocca, Jonathan Allen and Duo Resonance as the competitors with the five lowest home viewer vote totals during the America’s Got Talent performance show, and those five talented individuals and teams will not be advancing.

After the vote totals were announced, the difficult task of choosing the sixth act to move on to the finals competition, and the sixth to go home, was passed to the AGT judges. In what appeared to be a difficult decision, judges Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, Melanie “Mel B” Brown, and Howard Stern had to decide on one act from the sixth and seventh highest vote totals to receive the last and sixth finalist spot from this performance show. Either Catapult Entertainment or Dave Fenley would move on to the finals, with a chance at winning $1 million and a shot at having their own show in Las Vegas.

Mel B. was ecstatic with Dave Fenley, especially after he performed a Spice Girls song, and voted that he received the sixth finalist spot. Mr. Stern sternly admonished Fenley for performing that very same song, saying that in his eyes it hurts his chances. Howard then went on a long rant about how he thought Dave was intentionally kissing up to Mel B., so you know that Fenley was not going to get Howard’s vote. Stern then addressed Catapult, saying that what they have done up to this point “is remarkable.” Mentioning that their week to week performance has been sensational, he even went as far as to say AGT needs them on the show.

So guess who got Mister Stern’s pick? Yep, Catapult. The beautiful Heidi Klum revealed her vote by beginning, “It’s always a tough decision every week.” She even expressed her love for Catapult, stating that it was her belief they were just a little bit better than Dave. It was then up to Howie Mandel to move Catapult Entertainment through to the finals round, or create a voting tie at 2 votes each. He said he was moved by the whole Catapult story and performance, but in his eyes they hurt themselves with their most recent effort. Howie then went on to say that he felt the previous night’s semifinal show was average until Dave Fenley performed. He said that Dave “raised the game” and became more than just a coffeehouse singer. And then, quickly flip-flopping, and calling this the toughest decision he has made so far this season, Mandel catapulted Catapult to the finals.